Rangel: Movement conservatives gain little in elections

Former state Rep. Jim Landtroop challenged former colleague John Frullo in Tuesday's Republican primary because he said House District 84 needed a more conservative representative.

"Lubbock is a conservative district, and I believe they should have the opportunity to vote for a solid, proven conservative candidate," Landtroop said in December when he filed to run.

But most GOP voters in the district didn't buy his argument because Frullo easily defeated him with 55.2 percent of the vote.

It was a similar story in HD 121 in San Antonio.

Conservative activist Jeff Judson and political novice Sheila Bean challenged House Speaker Joe Straus on grounds he is not a true conservative. But to hardly anyone's surprise, the San Antonio Republican buried both challengers with 60 percent of the vote.

This was also the case in about two dozen other House districts throughout the state. Challengers claiming to be true conservatives failed to unseat Republican incumbents who - like Frullo - support Straus.

Despite winning two races - and perhaps two more that will be decided in the May 24 runoffs - the so-called movement conservatives fell flat on their backs because, on the flip side, two establishment Republicans defeated anti-Straus incumbents.

In short, Straus and his allies had a super Super Tuesday because in most Republican districts voters chose seniority and experience over claims of true conservatism.

No one should be surprised.

Landtroop and most of the other anti-Straus candidates - the former Plainview representative voted against Straus' re-election as speaker in 2011, the only session he served in the Legislature - were heavily funded by Empower Texans and a few wealthy donors who largely bankrolled their campaigns.

Empower Texans, the conservative activist group largely funded by Midland oilman Tim Dunn, and other movement conservatives have opposed Straus since 2009 when he and other 10 House Republicans, including then-Rep. Delwin Jones of Lubbock, engineered the ouster of former Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland.

Despite the millions of dollars spent on trying to unseat Straus and key allies, so far Empower Texans and the few wealthy donors have little to show for.

In this year's Republican primary the group spent more than $1.4 million on anti-Straus candidates, according to a Dallas Morning News analysis. Landtroop received $65,000, which is nearly half of the $132,000 he raised for his failed run.

The same goes for Cisco billionaire Farris Wilks, who gave at least $500,000 to Empower Texans and tens of thousands of dollars to anti-Straus candidates.

Judson, for example, Straus' main challenger, raised more than $600,000, mainly from wealthy individuals, according to campaign finance reports he filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. The largest amounts he received came from Wilks, Alice Walton, the billionaire daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, and school voucher advocate James Leininger of San Antonio.

The unusually large donations allowed Straus and some of his allies to portray their challengers as puppets of Empower Texans and of other special interests.

Straus said conservative activists are angry because they have failed to topple him.

"They don't have a puppet they can control," he said at a Jan. 21 business conference.

Despite its disappointing loses, Empower Texans does not sound disappointed.

"House Speaker Joe Straus spent nearly $4 million on his own race, declaring an early victory, while his top committee chairmen retired fearing defeat, lost their primaries, or won by small margins," group president Michael Quinn Sullivan wrote on the organization's website.

"(House) State Affairs Committee Chairman Byron Cook spent more than $1.1 million and won re-election by less than a percentage point," Sullivan wrote.

But in the end, it was another disappointing primary for Empower Texans and for movement conservatives.

Most of the money Empower Texans and a few wealthy donors gave to anti-Straus candidates went down the drain and challengers like Landtroop, who touted their conservative credentials, lost what little political capital they had.

As one House Republican said about Landtroop: "Why didn't he run for (retiring U.S. Rep. Randy) Neugebauer's seat? He had a better chance of winning."